Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 3:12PM 
No child's library can be complete without one or all of the Frances series by Russell Hoban. You'll enjoy these clever stories about bedtime, food phobias, friendship and sibling rivalry as much as your little one.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 1:01PM | in recipes On Sunday mornings I can always find my husband watching Mark Bittman's latest video recipe for the NY Times. This weekend the recipe was for fried chickpeas with chorizo and spinach. It was fast, simple, delicious and an easy way to introduce young children to a new flavors. The world's made up of more than beanie weenies and fish sticks.
Enjoy!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/24mini.html?ref=dining
Friday, February 19, 2010 at 12:48PM | in Parenting 
I care a great deal about the people my children are today and what I can do to help encourage them to be successful adults and loving spouses and parents down the road. Most of the time, I don't give a rat's fanny about their grades. Sorry, this is the truth. They're good students but as a family we don't put a great deal of pressure on them about academic achievement and really try and consciously work against the trend of perfectionism in my daughter's school. Isn't there a saying to the effect of "don't let the perfect be the the enemy of the good?" I still believe that good is often good enough.
I actually had another mother tell me one day that, "no one will care that your child is a good citizen, they only care about the grades." This was right before she announced that she wouldn't be attending a poetry reading at the school by her child because the child hadn't made the finals and "everyone knows that my family always places or wins." Ouch! Did this mom ever stop to think that her child may have learned a great deal even though she didn't "place or win?" The idea that we play just to win or study just to rank in the top percentile is a suffocatingly narrow way to raise a child.
Here is the link to a great article on why we should all fight the trend of perfectionism. If your goal is to raise a successful adult, you need to get off this train.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/half_full/?p=298
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 11:13AM 
How nice is it for someone to contact you just to say how much they love your collection? Gossip Girl actress Kelly Rutherford did just that last week . She loves the roomy Signature Collection converter gown for her baby daughter and told us, "I have seen many styles and brands of children's clothing, however there is something so old world and charming about Pixie Lily".
Thank you, Kelly!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 6:33AM | in Parenting 
I'm generally impervious to guilt but I'm starting to feel a twinge of something now that I am having to ignore more snack requests than usual. Yesterday morning my son's school sent an email asking if any of us could help provide drinks and a snack for a small class celebration. My response to such requests is completely passive (and wimpy), I simply go "dark" and wait for other more efficient and industrious mothers to jump on the assigned task. I was not disappointed, within minutes several volunteered to bring drinks and a host of other goodies.
Still, I was left wondering why anyone had been asked to provide food in the first place. The children all enjoy a healthy snack at 10:00 and then lunch at 12:00. During regular days at school there is nothing to eat from lunch until 2:55 when they are dismissed so why the need to feast after a "publishing party"?
These days it seems like every activity no matter how mundane or celebratory must be accompanied by a snack. I thought I was the only anti-snack curmudgeon but this morning I happened across a great opinion piece in the Dining and Wine section of the NY Times by Jennifer Steinhauer. Knowing that I'm not alone is a nice way to start the day. Interesting comments section too.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/dining/index.html
Ok, I said it. I am complete and utter snob when it comes to toys. I love toys that encourage active, imaginative play and recoil in horror from anything that is plastic or has batteries. Rule #1 in the Jackson house is when the batteries die, we donate the toy to Goodwill, no exceptions.
When Suzanne was still small, I discovered a wonderful catalog with the kinds of toys I love...lots of costumes, crafts, puppets, games and really sweet vintage inspired holiday decorations. Since then, Magic Cabin has become our favorite go to source for gifts both large and small, from an inexpensive child's birthday gift to a Santa's big present (shhhhhhhh, that is a major secret!).
A huge hit with both my children was a wooden grocery stand with pretend food and a cash register that rings with each sale. After enjoying it for about 5 years, we passed it on to my Godchildren, Trow and Parker. We included a few small brown paper bags for packing the groceries and now it is the hit of the neighborhood. Reservations for playtime are required.
Check out Magic Cabin's website. You can search toys by age as well as price and category so finding what you need quickly is a snap. How great is that?
http://magiccabin.com/welcome.asp
There have been times when a happy child wandered my way, carrying a certain book and I would just wince. Drats, not THAT one, I would think. Some of these books were boring, predictable, mindless and sometimes, God forbid, all of the above. Added to that was the fact that I would have to read them ad nauseum several times a day for weeks on end. It was enough to make me want to gouge out my eyes. First donate all of those boring, predictable and mindless books and then start collecting books that amuse the both of you.
A few years ago I bought my chidren a favorite book from my own childhood, Miss Suzy. A sweet little squirrel who lives in a magical house atop her own oak tree, Miss Suzy is both kindhearted and strong. There is conflict but no actual violence, just enough action to keep small children riveted, along with household tips for baking acorn cakes and making firefly lamps. It's simply charming and hopefully you won't mind reading it multiple times.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 5:43AM | in Home 
I don't know about you but most of the candles and home fragrances out there either make me gag or bring on a serious migraine. I can't even walk into certain nameless chain stores anymore without dry heaving from the stink wafting out of the big bins of potpourri. Horrors!
Just last year I found the perfect antidote to my fragrance phobia in the Charleston Candle from Archipelago. It's floral without being too sweet and makes your house smell like you just arranged a bouquet from your garden. It's a lovely hostess gift or special treat. I think I'll give one to myself for Valentine's Day.
When my son Chisolm was born, my cousin gave me her baby wipe warmer. It was the most shockingly indulgent piece of equipment I had ever seen. Who had conceived of this ridiculous contraption? It did not jibe with my "life is tough and wipes are cold" philosophy and lasted less than 2 weeks on my changing table. I had a hard enough time keeping enough diaper wipes in the house let alone having to add "reload the warmer" to my ever growing to-do list.
I'm a cloth diaper baby from the olden days, before they were a political/environmental statement and just what every baby wore. Goodness knows what my mother used as a wipe but I'm pretty sure it wasn't properly pH balanced with natural emollients and a temp of 98.6. Miraculously, I survived and have lived to tell the tale with no visible physical or emotional scars.
Now you may be chuckling or you may be running to the phone to notify Child Protective Services but whatever your reaction, it encapsulates the dilemna of modern day parents. How do we cut through the hype? How do we deal with the messages bombarding us on a daily basis that slowly undermine our confidence in our ability to care for and raise our children?
If you feel like you're swimming against the tide in an ever increasingly hysterical ocean of parents. If you feel like The Worst Parent Ever (which you cannot possibly be because I was given this title last year by my 12 year old) because you aren't buying all of the "stuff" and buying into all of the hoopla, please read Pamela Paul's insightful book, Parenting Inc. With a great deal of humor and common sense Ms. Paul reminds us that aside from a full tummy, a dry diaper, some basic equipment (that doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg), and loving interaction with parents and caregivers, babies require little else to grow and thrive.
This should be required reading for all parents and parents-to-be. You can purchase a copy at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805082492/sternjuststern
Enjoy,
Leda